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Arugula

My last full week of this study program just passed and it feels kind of bitter sweet to get back to reality on Thursday. I know that the whole purpose of my studies has been to get a license and then put my new knowledge to practice, but I like studying and learning new things. And also I had the freedom to study from home, take breaks whenever I needed to or take a run in the middle of the day to clear my brain. So it’s been kind of relaxing. Some people don’t have the self disciplin to actually focus on what they’re supposed to do if they work from home, but I have honestly never had that issue. I’ve always thought that school was pretty easy and I don’t know how old I was when I started to see good grades as some kind of competition. Of course I have older brothers that did great in school, so I guess I didn’t want to be that last little slacker, but nobody told me that I had to accomplish a certain grade or score on an exam to be considered a good student or a good person. Still I have always felt like I have to do great and be that ”good girl” or ”good student” that somehow people expect of me. Or maybe it was just always in my head. I probably put the highest expectations on myself. But so far in this training it has paid off, two out of three exams done and I have my final one on Tuesday. I just have to surpress those anxiety issues in the process and focus on what I am doing instead of what would happen if I actually failed 😀 And to cheer me up most people say but heeey you would never fail!!! Making it even worse 😉 End of therapy session – let’s focus on what you all visit this blog for. Food!

This weekend has been very relaxing and we’ve had so much good food! I just didn’t feel like cooking on Friday night and I’ve been wanting to go to a Sushi place here in Brandon that has 5/5 stars on Yelp. So we decided to go and ignore the fact that sushi is very expensive. I used to think that sushi is expensive in Sweden, but hey – if you want to get actual sushi and not just rolls in the US, you pay at least $4 for two small pieces of salmon sushi. It is ridiculous! The only sane way to eat a couple of sushi bites is to buy some kind of combo. And those combos are usually around $18-20. So with our money-spending-boots on we drove to Sushi Ushi. A small little place, doesn’t look too fancy and the service wasn’t great. But holy moly how much fresh fish we got on our plates!! We all did a sushi and sashimi combo – $23. For that you get 6 pieces of sushi, 9 pieces of sashimi and a california roll. And those slices of fish were thick! I don’t know how many pounds (grams!!!) of fish we ate. We also had BBQ squid for appetizer and the chef came out with a free sample of tuna poke – which was equally amazing. I had a giant sushi baby growing in my belly for hours, because nothing on that plate could go to waste! I even ate the orchid – dipped in wasabi soy.

Now some of you might think that after that experience, you guys weren’t hungry for two days. But no, we had Swedish Pancakes for brunch Saturday morning! And then we started planning for our Saturday night dinner. We decided for grilled pizza. Our supermarket has a really good pizza dough that is made fresh in the bakery – which makes home made pizza really easy. We have struggled before with making our own dough, but it’s just not as good. We might take up the challenge again now that we share house with an Italian (born in the USA with a heavy Alabama accent), but to be honest the best part is to figure out great pizza toppings! If you add garlic butter on the crust almost any dough will due 😉 So we spent fifteen minutes in the deli trying different smoked meats for our pizzas. I bought prosciutto for mine, Niklas had pepperoni and pancetta and George mixed pancetta and salami. Of course we all had mozzarella cheese, and then as we walked by the fresh seafood section I just had to buy some giant shrimp too – that I marinated in garlic, lime and chili. Mmmh it was all so good! We skipped marinara sauce – it’s way too heavy, garlic butter is the best base. And to top it all off you add some fresh arugula salad on top when the pizza is done (fresh arugula with some olive oil, lime, salt & pepper). Delish!

So I figured I should update you guys about our meal last night. Just like the first time – it was amazing. Yes, I am talking about the salmon. And since we had lots of arugula in the fridge, I figured I’ll try to make a type of sauce/spread that my aunt and cousin frequently makes. Why on earth have I not done this before? It is soooo good. So I had it with the salmon for dinner yesterday and also for lunch today. I made the best crisp bread sandwich ever.

Step One: Smoke your own salmon! (I’m sure store bought will work too)
Step Two: Make the amazing arugula spread – which I’ll give you some type of recipe for below.
Step Three: Pick your favorite cracker/crisp bread and top it with arugula spread and salmon. Yum!

So how did I make this Awesomesauce Spread. I really don’t know the proportions. As usual I just mix things together, taste it and it turns out great 😉 But it goes something like this:
1 bag of arugula (2-3 cups)
1/2 cup (1,2 dl) fresh basil (more to taste)
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup cream cheese
3-5 tablespoons of sour cream
Salt & pepper

Mix arugula and basil in a mixer until it’s roughly chopped. Add cream cheese, sour cream, garlic, salt & pepper. Mix until evenly blended and you have a spread looking like a dairy infused pesto. Taste and add more salt, pepper, sour cream or cream cheese if necessary. And indulge! This spread is especially wonderful on fresh baked bread and goes really well with chicken.